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How important are warm-up matches, especially before a tournament as long as the World Cup? How do teams and players approach these games? Nagraj Gollapudi gets the views of those who’ve been there, done that.

Nagraj Gollapudi16-Feb-2011How does the intensity of a warm-up game compare to a competitive match?
MS Dhoni: It is very difficult to prepare mentally to play in a warm-up game – especially after what we saw in the 2007 World Cup, where we had two good warm-up matches and after that I don’t know where we were. I think it’s because of the amount of games that we play because if you play 35-odd ODIs in a year and 10 Test matches and 45 days of IPL and Champions League then all of a sudden when you hear that you have a warm-up game and 15 players are playing in that game, it is a very difficult scenario to mentally prepare yourself for the game.Michael Clarke: These are exactly what they are supposed to be – practice games. It is important you try and maximise the chance to give everybody the opportunity to bat or bowl, have a run around and more importantly get used to the conditions we are going to play in throughout the tournament.John Buchanan: There is sufficient intensity in there for them to be certainly better than a net session but it is nowhere near the same level of competition because there are actually points riding on the outcome of the game in the actual matches whereas in a trial game there is no specific outcome from getting a result, win or lose. So, certainly, once you move into the competition proper there is a different feel.Hashim Amla: There is no doubt it is lovely to win, especially against a team like Australia, who are a very good team. The intensity was up there but we don’t look too deep into it.

How important is winning in a warm-up?
Buchanan: It’s different for different teams. Some might use most of the games as a means to providing competition to as many players as they possibly can. It gives an opportunity try the odd tactic or two. Obviously players returning from injuries get time to get settled in. The games also can be used to get acclimatised. Some teams will also want to see it as a means to develop some sort of confidence and momentum within the group so they may place a bit more importance on the result of the game. Some teams would like to take a degree of confidence from those games heading into the main rounds of the tournament.Clarke: It’s more about giving blokes an opportunity than the winning.Amla: It’s lovely to get some confidence, but we are playing 15 players in the warm-up matches. Winning against Australia was not about taking confidence from denying the Australia bowlers any wickets on Tuesday [in 46 overs]. We took confidence from the individual performances and the win.

Does a defeat hurt in any manner?
Ian Chappell: You don’t try to lose but a loss doesn’t hurt anywhere near as much as it does when the match counts.

Is there an advantage to be gained in holding back your best to retain the element of surprise for the business end of things?
Buchanan: It depends again on whether you believe your best players have had sufficient cricket coming into the tournament; then it sometimes is useful to not play them because what works in their best interest is to spend time away from game. There is no size that fits all, as everybody is in different positions approaching the tournament.

How much is it about gauging your opposition?
Buchanan: The emphasis is totally on your own cricket really. It is all about your players being ready for the tournament. As far as studying the opposition goes, the warm-ups can be used to get a little bit of insight into one or two players you haven’t seen too much of, but overall it is just about preparing yourself in getting ready for the competition.

One-time wild boy Jesse Ryder says he has had plenty of time out of cricket to think about his game. It’s all about patience for him now, he says

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi25-Mar-2011Are you in a happy place?
I think I sort of know my role in the team now and what I have to do while I am out there batting. I am not thinking about other stuff. I just play my natural game. The coaches have given us our jobs to do and we play our games. They give us the freedom to express ourselves when we are out there.What’s the role given to you?
To be aggressive at the start, depending on how the other batsmen go. It also means I need to bat through 30 overs and set up the game for the lower-order batsmen.Has John Wright asked you to do some things in particular?
Wrighty is really good, just says it how it is. He keeps it simple as well, knows how we play and lets us just play to our ability. He backs us, expects us to turn up and train hard.Recently, midway into the World Cup campaign, he did say if we hit it out of the net we were going to be in a “six-and-out” position, so it was good for the boys, I reckon, just to milk ones and get used to taking your time through that middle stage where we pick up a run a ball. It seems to be working for the boys of late – they have got off to a flier, then calmed down, taken the ones, and then gone and hit again, which has set up the team through the game.What did you learn from that exercise?
Just patience. Nailing your game down to how you want to play. It does take a while to get everything sorted in your game. The sort of position I’m in now, I have played enough to know my game. And that is part of my game where I get into a stage to get a run a ball, because I can naturally hit the bad ball.Considering the talent you have, there is always this feeling that a big innings is around the corner. Do you feel the same?
I always go in with that confidence. At the moment I am striking the ball well in the nets. Even in the Pakistan series [at home] when I got all those ducks in a row, I was still striking the ball, and I always felt that the big score was coming. And I got a fifty in the first one-dayer and a hundred in the last one. So as long as I’m striking the ball well and training properly I’m still feeling good going out there in the middle.How tough has it been to rein in your attacking instincts?
It was the patience. Since I have got to the World Cup I have been a bit more patient. The moment I start thinking too much, I am in trouble. If there is too much on my mind that is when I am in trouble. When I am basically not thinking about other things I can express myself better.How do you switch off?
In the Test matches it is different because you have got all the time in the world, so it is pretty easy to switch off. I like to joke with the likes of Martin Guptill and I like having fun. I can’t reveal much but we do talk about dance moves and stuff. I usually stay away from cricket when I am not playing. I follow a lot of rugby league [Melbourne Storm], and having played basketball during my young days I still play it and follow the Boston Celtics. It is just excitement I get watching those sports. All my mates are into the same sort of things as well. We have got a sweepstakes that we do every year, where we pick the winner of each game and the person who comes out on top takes about $1000 away. There is a bit of gambling involved, of course.You are supposedly the DJ of the New Zealand dressing room?
It is one of the jobs I perform on tours – be the music guy, carry the speakers, sort out the music in the change room. I have got loads of songs on my computer – about 20,000. It is not an easy job. I have got to get the variation there. Luckily I have a lot of different stuff on the playlists, which caters to everyone’s tastes. A big hit at the moment is Dave Dobbin, a guy from New Zealand. He played to us before the Pakistan match in Auckland. I use that to get the team going before matches at times.There seem to be two sides to you: one is the playful one in the dressing room, where you are free. But once you step out of there, the world seems to view you differently.
I am seen as a bad boy – reckless and stuff like that from my past. But now I am a pretty chilled out, low-key sort of person who likes to have fun. It is sort of how I have grown up and what I know.Do you get involved in verbal duels with the opposition while batting?
Sometimes. It spurs me on more than anything, makes me want to score runs. If it is in my zone I am still going to play my shots, if it is one of my strong shots.

“I like to joke with the likes of Martin Guptill and I like having fun. I can’t reveal much but we do talk about dance moves and stuff”

Who is the batsman you most enjoy watching in modern-day cricket?
I like Ross Taylor, who seems unstoppable when he gets in the mood. [MS] Dhoni is good to watch when he is going as well. I don’t watch too much cricket unless I’m playing it. Even when I get out I tend to not watch too much of the cricket.Have you learned anything from the Twenty20 format?
That is probably my worst game. What I’m still learning is that in Twenty20 cricket you have actually got more time than you think.Is there one innings where you played just the way you wanted to play?
The last innings against Pakistan in Auckland was probably my best innings in the recent past. I backed myself and played my shots. I was not thinking too much, kept it very simple – see the ball, hit the ball.Also, the double-hundred [against India], where I felt they could not get me out. It was one of the days where you walk out and start hitting the ball out of the middle from ball one and feel good. Like I said, I had nothing on my mind, just batting. That made it easy.I got a hundred and a double-hundred. Harbhajan Singh told me he had enough of me batting in that series. When you have got people like him saying that, it is a compliment. That double-century remains my favourite innings. In fact, the bat I hit the double-hundred with was the one with which I hit my first one-day century.What is the one shot you play that makes you enjoy your batting?
I feel good when I stand up quite tall and hit it over cover-point. That is the shot that has come out of nowhere, really. When I play it I’m usually trying to block the ball. But actually if I give it a little bit more there is a chance of getting runs. And if I hit that off a good-length ball then it might make the bowler think about not pitching on the same length again.What would you say has been the biggest change in your career?
Patience is probably the biggest thing that has changed. The time I’ve had sitting out in the last two years has allowed me to think a lot about my game and work on my game.On the technical front I am still learning to get forward a little bit more and not leaning back when I am driving, and making sure the head is over the ball.

A month after a horrific accident where a ball smashed into his face, Keegan Meth is back playing first-class cricket

Firdose Moonda02-Oct-2011When Shingi Masakadza bowled a bouncer to Keegan Meth during his comeback match in Mutare last weekend, Meth said he saw his “life flash in front of me, again”. For a split second, he wondered what would happen if the ball hit him, particularly if it found its way to his mouth, still raw after what happened the last time he had played cricket. Luckily it didn’t.Meth ducked underneath and continued batting, and his aggressive 43 off 37 balls took the Matabeleland Tuskers to what turned out to be a match-winning total of 240. On the face of it, there was nothing remarkable about his innings, besides its swiftness, but it was a brave knock and a way for Meth to show that his determination is as strong as over.It’s been just over a month since he had four teeth knocked out when he was struck during his follow-through while bowling to Bangladesh’s Nasir Hossain, in the fifth ODI, in Bulawayo. The match was Meth’s first appearance in the five-match series and the ball that injured him was the last delivery of his spell. Meth said he “just didn’t see the ball” when it came back at him, and he learned the hard way what the consequences of taking one’s eye off the game, even for a moment, could be.The injury caused him to drip so much blood onto the pitch, the umpires had to ask for him to be removed from the field as a matter of urgency. It took 18 stitches to sew him back together that afternoon but Meth was back at the ground in time to bat, and would have, had he not been advised to stay off the park. For five days after that, he could not eat, and he lost nine kilograms as a result. His team-mates did not expect to see him back on the field for at least three months.The thought of spending that much time out of the game was unthinkable for Meth, who was back in training two weeks after the incident. He had to wear a mask over his face, and had gaping holes in the front of his mouth, where his teeth should have been, but he wanted to practise. Having missed out on selection for Zimbabwe’s comeback Test against Bangladesh, and their subsequent match against Pakistan through injury, he did not want to fall further out of favour come the New Zealand visit in October.”I’m not injured to the extent that I can’t play,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “When I played in that limited-overs match, it was just great to be on the field and even better to know that I hadn’t lost form from some time out of the game.” Meth was named Man of the Match in that game, after taking 4 for 21 in addition to his quickfire stint at the crease. It was an achievement worth much more to him than simply the numbers.His tenacity is enough to get him noticed but it is Meth’s form, in fact, that should see him earn a national recall. As one of the country’s premier allrounders, he is competing primarily with Elton Chigumbura but also against the likes of Malcolm Waller for a place in the starting XI. Meth was the second highest wicket-taker in last season’s first-class competition, and he has been identified as one of the players who will help shape Zimbabwe’s cricketing future.He played in a first-class match in Mutare last week, where his unbeaten 41 was the highest second-innings score by a Tuskers batsman. He took 1 for 40 in the first innings and 3 for 19 in the second. Importantly, he has yet to show any fear of being in close contact with a hard ball. “When it comes to fielding, I am a little tentative, especially because it’s quite a bumpy outfield here, but I’m not scared,” he said. He patrolled the boundary edge and did not get too close in – a sign of genuine concern from his captain, Gavin Ewing.But it’s not the consideration Meth appreciates. “Nobody is treating me any differently and I wouldn’t want them to,” he said. “It’s actually been quite nice that some of my Tuskers team-mates have started making some humorous comments.” The most common, and expected, ones have not been in particularly good taste and have included references to Meth considering a move to Cape Town. A popular caricature of Cape Coloureds shows them as having no front teeth.Meth’s healing process is not complete. In about a week, he will have titanium screws put in his mouth, where his teeth once were, and once those have settled, he will go under the knife a third time to have replacement teeth put on. He is not sure how long he will wait before that can happen. “But I am going to be playing as much cricket as I can in between,” he said.

Stats highlights from England’s thumping win at Edgbaston

S Rajesh13-Aug-2011England’s bowlers have been outstanding over the last couple of years, with James Anderson leading the way•Getty Images

• The margin of victory, an innings and 242 runs, is England’s fifth-largest in all Tests, and their second-best against India. Their biggest win was against Australia way back in 1938, by an innings and 579 runs, but three of their five largest victories have come since 2005.
• For India, this was their third-largest defeat ever in Test history, and their biggest in more than 37 years. It’s also their second-biggest loss to England, next only to their innings-and-285-runs drubbing at Lord’s in 1974.
• England’s win makes them the best Test team in the world according to the ICC rankings, and it’s an accolade they richly deserve. Since the beginning of May 2009 they’ve won 19 Tests and lost 4, a win-loss ratio of 4.75; India have won 11 and lost 6, a ratio of 1.83. During this period, their batsmen have averaged 40.14, with 38 centuries in 30 Tests. Only South Africa have a higher average. Their bowling average of 28.94, though, is clearly the best. The top three wicket-takers during this period have all been England bowlers.
• India’s defeat ends a fine spell in which they went without a series defeat in 11 attempts – their last series loss was in Sri Lanka in 2008. (Click here for India’s series results since 2005.) It’s also the first series defeat for MS Dhoni, whose captaincy numbers have slipped to 15 wins and six defeats in 30 Tests.
• India’s overall average partnership in this series so far has been 24.35, compared to England’s 54.09. They’ve had one century partnership to England’s nine. In six innings India haven’t once faced 100 overs; in fact, they’ve gone downhill over these three Tests – 95.5 and 96.3 at Lord’s, 91.4 and 47.4 at Trent Bridge, and 62.2 and 55.3 at Edgbaston.
• India’s average stand for the top six wickets in this series has been 27.27. Among series in which there have been at least 30 partnerships for the first six wickets, this is their second-poorest since 1995. It’s slightly poorer than their effort in Australia in 1999-2000, which was the last time they lost three Tests in a series.
• The one crumb of comfort for Dhoni was his own batting form – it was the fourth time he topped 50 in both innings of a Test, but the first such instance in more than two years.

Five key factors and observations from the Test series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan

Kanishkaa Balachandran14-Jul-2012The Decision Review System
Pakistan’s coach Dav Whatmore demanded to know why it wasn’t available. Mohammad Hafeez was more moderate but shared his coach’s views. During the first Test in Galle, both of them said the inconsistent implementation of the DRS was affecting the game. The system was available, without Hot Spot, in Sri Lanka’s previous home series, against England. When Pakistan arrived, three months later, Sri Lanka Cricket couldn’t provide it because of the costs involved. Pakistan had reason to feel aggrieved. They had seven decisions going against them in the first three days of the Galle Test, with several inside edges on to pad going undetected and doubts over the trajectory of the ball during lbw decisions.It was quite a contrast to Pakistan’s previous Test series, against England in the UAE, in which the DRS played an integral part. In that series, the host board (the PCB) secured sponsors to offset the high costs of the technology needed for DRS. Perhaps SLC and other boards can follow suit.The umpiring errors aside, Pakistan were beaten in Galle because some of their batsmen failed and they collapsed for 100 in the first innings. They were also missing Misbah-ul-Haq, who was banned for an over-rate offence. Better umpiring and DRS could have at least minimised the damage.Barely days after the pleas from Hafeez and Whatmore, the proposal for a universal implementation of the DRS fell through at the ICC’s executive board meeting in Kuala Lumpur. The issue wasn’t even put to vote.Weather and scheduling
The groundstaff was kept busy right through the tour. Rain washed out the third one-day international in Colombo, and the clouds were unwelcome visitors in two of the three Tests. The weather didn’t effect the Galle Test, but in spoiled the contests in Colombo and Pallekele. It ruined several hours of play on the second, third and fourth days at the SSC, making a draw inevitable. The flat pitch raised doubts about the likelihood of a result, but with Pakistan taking a 160-run lead, they could have tried to force a result if it wasn’t for the stoppage time. In Pallekele, rain wiped out the entire second day, which meant both teams were short of time to push for a result.SLC could learn from this experience and keep June and early July – the months of the southwest monsoon – free from international cricket. Pallekele, however, continues to baffle. The location of the country’s newest Test venue, around half an hour from Kandy, was chosen because it’s one of the drier regions in the district. Ironically, all three Tests played there have been rained-affected draws. The region was going through a drought before the third Test began.Pakistan’s youngsters
Though Pakistan lost the ODIs and Tests, the Test series defeat wasn’t as demoralising because of the performances of their younger players. Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali have been on the national circuit for the last two years, and their performances made up for the patchy form of Misbah and Younis Khan. Azhar impressed with his temperament and patience needed to play long innings; Shafiq displayed similar qualities and tightened his technique. Their innings in the final Test gave Pakistan the belief that they could save the game. Junaid Khan was a revelation with his pace, swing and aggression. Inspired by Wasim Akram, he got the ball to reverse from the round the wicket to the right-handers. He overshadowed Saeed Ajmal with his top-order strikes but lacked support. Junaid had to shoulder a lot of the burden because Aizaz Cheema, Umar Gul and Mohammad Sami turned in underwhelming performances.Jayawardene steadies Sri Lanka
When Mahela Jayawardene took over the leadership after the tour of South Africa early this year, he was Sri Lanka’s third captain in the last 12 months. His task of restoring the team’s competitiveness was made tougher by the payment crisis. SLC was having financial problems and its national players were the biggest victims. The results, however, began to improve – Sri Lanka made the finals of the CB Series and won a Test against England. Jayawardene wanted a series win, which had eluded them for nearly three years. His aggressive and innovative fields showed that he was trying to create opportunities. His decision to call off Sri Lanka’s chase of 271 in Pallekele had puzzled many, including Misbah, but having secured a 1-0 lead, Jayawardene didn’t want to wreck several months of hard work for the sake of adventure.Sri Lanka move on from Murali
Muttiah Muralitharan can relax now. Sri Lanka had found it hard to cope with his retirement two years ago. Ajantha Mendis’ form was erratic and his fitness poor, leaving Rangana Herath with most of the responsibility. Herath has done well to come out of Murali’s shadow and lead the spin attack. His challenge will be to create a threat on pitches that may not be as spin-friendly anymore. With Murali’s departure, the emphasis has started to shift from spin to pace, and Sri Lanka will need more support from their seamers going forward. Bringing in the allrounder Thisara Perera for the third Test was an inspired move. His 4 for 63 and attacking 75 were good for his transition to the Test squad as a lower-order hitter and opening bowler. Nuwan Kulasekara was incisive in Galle, challenged at the SSC, but he is only building his experience at Test level. When Chanaka Welegedera and Suranga Lakmal return from injury, the competition for places will increase.

Geoff Boycott on the World T20, Kevin Pietersen, attacking captains in history, innovations likely in the game

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Oct-2012Siddhartha Talya: Hello and welcome once again to Bowl at Boycs. I’m Siddhartha Talya and speaking to me today, as usual, from his home in Jersey is Geoffrey Boycott. Morning Geoffrey. We had a compact, short but exciting tournament, the World Twenty20. Enjoyed it?Geoffrey Boycott: I watched quite a lot of the matches and I knew it would be a good tournament because it was kept on the shortish side. These tournaments can get too long and I thought it was just about right. It was interesting. I know the Sri Lankans love their cricket, and India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were favourites because in the conditions in their own countries, they are pretty good, with the slow turn and with batsmen who are good against it. I’m not surprised one of them made it to the final. In fact, they were the favourites.ST: Yes, we had a full house at the Premadasa for the final but unfortunately for them, Sri Lanka ended up on the losing side. Our first question is about the World Twenty20, it’s from Jason, a happy West Indian writing from Guyana. He asks: What next for West Indies cricket? Their fans have been starved of success for many years. Where do you see the game going from here in the Caribbean? Surely, West Indies winning was a great result for the game.GB: Jason, you are spot on. But I think we’re all pleased for cricket that a side like West Indies, which has been down in the doldrums a bit, has won. Their Test cricket has been pretty ordinary in recent times. It hasn’t been great probably over the last ten years. West Indies cricket needed a boost and it’s got it. If it gets kids playing cricket more, because they see West Indies as world champions of T20 cricket, then that’s great. If more kids take it up, that’s fantastic.I played Test cricket mainly, not a lot of one-day cricket. I’m not one of those who think cricket’s just about Tests. In my opinion, if the youngsters of the West Indies see T20 and 50-over cricket as the cricket that they want to play in the future rather than Tests, in some ways it’s a little bit sad but in another way, who cares. Above all, we want youngsters to start playing cricket. We want to see them enjoying the game, playing it, loving it, just like we used to as kids, instead of sitting watching television or being on computers all the time. We should never be picky about what type of cricket is played.If you think back, when I was a kid, the first cricket I ever played was 20-over cricket. We didn’t have time to play a Test match. It was a 20-over competition where a guy kept wicket and all the rest of us could bowl two overs each, which was brilliant because it got every kid in the game. The wicketkeeper’s in the game all the time, and if you don’t bowl first, you know eventually you’re going to get your two overs. So it really was a team game where you all had to have a bowl, and then you had to retire after you made 25 runs.It’s a brilliant idea because the big thing about kids playing cricket is that you get two or three who are really good and they hog the bowling and hog the batting, and all some kids do is watch them bat and bowl and just field. There’s no fun involved. You have to get kids involved.And now, these West Indian kids, all over the islands, they’ve got heroes they can look up to. They’ve got heroes they can want to emulate. That’s what we’re all about. The guy I liked when I was a kid was Tom Graveney, the great English batsman with 120-odd hundreds. Now they’ve got guys who can hit the ball, play great T20 cricket. They’ve seen West Indies win, they’ve seen it on TV and they can rightly now say: West Indies are champions of the world in T20, and they’re the best. That’s what matters. All West Indies will rejoice and, hopefully, kids will want to get out there and hope to play 20-over cricket like some of their heroes.ST: So much at one point seemed to depend on Chris Gayle, Geoffrey, but other players have come to the fore as well. Marlon Samuels won them the final…GB: Samuels was brilliant throughout the tournament. He’s always had talent, if you go back a long time. When he was kid, I used to commentate a lot in the West Indies like I used to commentate in India. He was a brilliant youngster. Then, somewhere, he lost his way but he’s come back again. Look at Dwayne Bravo. When fit, he is a wonderful allrounder. Maybe he didn’t have exceptional performances in this tournament, but he’s a fantastic player. Then there’s their spinner, Sunil Narine. They’ve got enough people to look out for, to like and look up to and want to emulate. That’s what it’s about. You just want heroes. That’s why I think it’s so important that the national game of each country is seen, in that country on television, for the kids to see their heroes and the national team.ST: There’s been some resolution in England cricket and related to that is a question from Noel in the UK. He says: Kevin Pietersen’s back in the England fold, but there are now claims by the ECB that he was provoked by South African players into sending those messages that led to them being dropped. Cricket South Africa has denied this, but the saga seems to be continuing in the background. What do you make of all this?GB: How do you provoke someone? Sorry, I don’t believe it, but how do you provoke someone to send a text? In fact, I ask the question: Why are you texting the opposition? I don’t get it. You are playing against the opposition. You are playing against South Africa, I don’t care if you were born there. The opposition aren’t your friends when you’re playing against them. I’m not saying they’re your enemies, but they are your opponents. They want to knock you out, they want to get you out.It’s not as if South Africa treated him really well when he was there. He was sacked, remember, when he played for Natal, because they thought he wasn’t good enough. I’m sure that didn’t go down too well, it never has. And when he first played for England, against South Africa in South Africa, he got boos and cat-calls and terrible things were being shouted by the public. I was there watching. I think he played brilliantly, he got three hundreds in the one-dayers. And certain South African players, one was the captain of South Africa, would give him a real earful or mouthful when he was batting. So, when he first played against South Africa, they weren’t very nice to him. They were not his friends.I do think it’s possible, as we move on and he plays, he’s played in the IPL in other countries… when you play in the IPL in India, you play with people from other countries in your team. So you get on with them much more as team members, because then you have to treat them as your colleagues. With so many international one-day tournaments around the world, I do get it that, particularly in the IPL, that players from other countries are going to become friendlier. And you can become team-mates at that moment when you’re playing, in another country, in a different team.But, surely, when you come back and play for your country, your national side, against somebody else, you don’t fraternise much. Certainly, you don’t share anything to do with cricket. If you met them socially at a function or a bar, you would say hello and what have you and have a drink but you don’t fraternise about the cricket there, you’re on opposite sides. Most cricketers would say, “Yes, I know him, I get on with him, a beer just now and again, but I keep it at arm’s length. I’m actually on the other side.” I really don’t believe he was provoked and I don’t believe how you can provoke somebody, not into saying something that’s not nice about the England captain.Remember, he did apologise about what he said about the England captain. He apologised to the England captain. He apologised to cricket lovers in England, to the officials of the ECB. If you apologise, you apologise because you’ve done something wrong. Whatever it is, you can all speculate, but he must have done something, else there’s no point in him apologising.ST: Next up is a question about captaincy and it comes from Mr Ramki in India. He says: Douglas Jardine was known to be an aggressive captain, so was [Mansur Ali Khan] Pataudi. Who are some of the modern captains in recent times that you thought have stood out for their attacking captaincy? Can you think of someone who didn’t have the strongest of teams, but remained attacking against the best of sides?GB: It’s a good question, Ramki. Look, it’s very easy to captain a great side. Look at West Indies, and that’s not putting Clive Lloyd down, I love him to bits. I’ve played a lot against him – Yorkshire v Lancashire, England v West Indies. With respect, Clive did a brilliant job, but they were a brilliant side, weren’t they? But you’re not asking me that sort of question.Somebody like Ian Chappell. He took over in the last Test match, when England were winning the Ashes, and they did win it, in 1970-71. He took over in the last Test, which we won in Sydney. That’s the Test I couldn’t play; I broke my arm a few days before, hit by a Graham McKenzie ball. He took them over, came to England in 1972, they drew with England. He took them to the West Indies after that, and they beat West Indies there. That was when [Dennis] Lillee broke down, in ’72 in the first Test. He didn’t take a wicket, broke down with his back. He had bowlers like Jeff Hammond, who was a decent fast bowler but played one or two Tests, Max Walker, decent medium-pacer and a good bowler, Max, and Kerry O’Keefe and Terry Jenner, the legspinners. Again, they were decent bowlers but not in the great class of Shane Warne. So he [Chappell] didn’t have anybody there that was great as bowlers and they beat West Indies 2-0.

“If you apologise, you apologise because you’ve done something wrong. Whatever it is, you can all speculate, but he must have done something, else there’s no point in him apologising”

That was a pretty good performance, and they played against the Rest of the World as well. He did well there against a really talented side. The guy had something. He was a good batsman as well, was a positive captain and could lead his players.Brian Close, for me, did great, in 1966 in England. Colin Cowdrey, being captain of England, we’d lost three Test matches out of four. West Indies were 3-0 up, one Test left, they gave Close the captaincy for the last Test at The Oval. Everybody was down a bit, we’d been beaten handsomely, they were a far better side with [Garry] Sobers at his best, a great player and others like [Rohan] Kanhai. There were five changes, changes he wanted. His attitude, right from the first time we met up the day before for nets, for a team meeting, he just believed we could win. Forget about the other Test matches, he said. Forget about the fact that Sobers was the best player in the world, “We can get him out.” He just talked very sensibly about it, and we won handsomely. We really did win and that was a splendid effort.Any question on captaincy for me, Imran Khan is my favourite, always. Everything he did, nearly always, trying for wickets… when he had the legspinner Abdul Qadir, he really didn’t like to bowl him negatively, tried to bowl him to get wickets all the time. And quite frankly, he had to be so strong, aggressive and positive because anybody who’s having to handle a Pakistan team is going to have to act like God. That is probably the toughest job in world cricket. When you get the job in Pakistan – they’re so headstrong are many of the players, so many ex-players try to interfere, there’s political interference from ministers and people – that’s the most nightmare scenario to captain in Pakistan. I thought at the time he did it, he was absolutely and unbelievably brilliant.ST: Many Indians would like to know what you think of Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy. He had a good team, but he took over after the match-fixing controversy and Indian cricket was in some turmoil at that point in time. He’s been credited with reversing the fortunes of the Indian team, so what do you make of him?GB: You are right there. But I have to be careful mentioning Sourav because I deem him one of my best friends, like Sunny Gavaskar. I love him dearly. I think he did a fantastic job. People sometimes criticise him but I like him. There are miles more plusses in Sourav than there are minuses. None of us are perfect. We’ve all made mistakes.Sourav did a brilliant job, and he did it without throwing his weight around. I always feel that with Indian people and players, you get more out of them with honey and sugar than you will with the stick and the carrot. Shouting at them and getting mad at them doesn’t really work. You’ve got to use some commonsense, honey and sugar, I call it. He pulled them all together, showed he wasn’t frightened of anybody else in the world as a captain. He was a good player without being one of the greats. He’d got [Rahul] Dravid and [Sachin] Tendulkar, who was magic at that time, [VVS] Laxman, who is a dream player. So he did have some very, very talented batsmen. Bowling – so-so, not bad, but he didn’t have anything special. What he did was pull it all together in a way in which he showed great leadership qualities. That’s the key.Sometimes, you get people who get thrust into a job. Maybe they want the job, maybe it just happens. And they themselves don’t know if they’re going to be good at it. They hope they will be. We just had one, Andrew Strauss. Tactically, I don’t think he’s very good. I don’t think he’s ever been great at that. I can think of many people [who were]: Mark Taylor of Australia was brilliant, Ian Chappell got close, [Ray] Illingworth, [Mike] Brearely, Imran Khan, miles better. But when he got the job, he had the ability to get the best out of the players. They wanted to play for him, they didn’t want to let him down. Now, that’s a gift. If you get players who don’t want to let the captain down, they want to do the best, that means they’re going to get the best out of themselves and the team’s getting the best out of them. That’s a gift, you don’t always know until it’s thrust on you.Sourav was like that. He wasn’t the best player, by a long way. Not with Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman in the side. But he had this ability to pull people together and he did a fantastic job.ST: Geoffrey’s favourite question this show comes from Ketul in Hong Kong. He says: I saw a couple of spin bowlers stopping before delivering the ball, on occasion, in the World Twenty20. One is R Ashwin, the other is Mohammad Hafeez. It breaks the batsman’s concentration. Is it the right thing to do, or is it the same, in a way, as a batsman shuffling back and forth before a ball is delivered to play on a bowler’s mind?GB: Well done Ketul, you’ve been watching very carefully. You’re right. What’s the difference between a batsman changing his stance or grip, to play the reverse-sweep or the reverse-hit. Not a lot, is there? You’re right. Nobody stops the batsman from moving around in the crease when he’s trying to upset the bowler. What about when you charge the bowler? When somebody suddenly charges down at him just as he’s going to deliver.Ian Chappell: “The guy had something”•Getty ImagesAnything that gets the bowler or batsman the advantage, and it’s not against the law or spirit of the game, in my opinion is okay. We have to remember that throughout history, cricket has always changed. It’s not stayed the same for 200 years. Only a few years ago, nobody ever thought of the reverse-sweep or the reverse-hit. Or even the scoop. So you can’t play these shots unless you move before the bowler bowls. If you wait for him to deliver, it’s too late to get in position to do it, so you’ve got to be premeditating it.Spinners used to bowl orthodox, didn’t they? And all they had, which was something different, was an arm ball. But now, there are so many bowlers, from different countries, all over the world, who can bowl the . So that’s been the big development. Batting, bowling, they’ve always developed.So maybe the next development is bowlers, like you’ve seen, changing their run-up, stopping, then starting, to put the batsman off. Think of it as football. What happens in football when you see some people take a penalty? They run a yard or two, they stop, see if the goalkeeper’s going to dive one way and then just pop it into the side quite easily, don’t they? Maybe we’ll see more bowlers doing a, sort of, swerve in the middle, or trying to weave into the middle of the run-up, instead of running straight, just get behind the umpire and spoil the view of the batsman of the bowler running up. There’s nothing in the laws that says you can’t do that, is there? He loses sight of you a fraction, then you come in to deliver. If that upsets the batsman, too bad. It’s up to him to deal with it.Do you remember Jeff Thomson when he first came on the scene? When he bowled, his right arm, which held the ball, went back and it hid behind his body. Normally, when the arm comes over, you can see the ball coming all the way coming round to deliver it. Thomson had this slinging action where the arm, catapult like, went behind the body and you couldn’t see it. Some batsmen – not all – found that distracting. And different. But it wasn’t illegal. It wasn’t wrong. It was his natural way of bowling. And again, there’ll be things that will come along that we haven’t even thought of.It’s a good question Ketul, but you want to think what’s going to be the next thing that’s going to happen in cricket. Not the scoop, we’ve got that, not the reverse-sweep or the reverse-hit. Not the doosra. What is going to be the next thing? I think it’s going to be like that, that for a fraction of a second, the batsman will lose sight of the bowler running up. But whatever happens, there’ll always be new developments and the key is to be the first on the block with it. That’s the key, because then you bamboozle people.I can’t think of what’s going to happen in the next ten or 20 years, but believe me, there’d be things happening in cricket that I’d never thought of. That’s why I’m saying to Ketul and anybody listening: Cast your mind, try and think what you think is going to happen. What do you think is going to happen in cricket? What’s going to be unorthodox, what’s going to be different? There will be new developments, and if you are one of the first to think of it, do something and do it good, you’ll become a superstar at cricket.ST: That’s something to ponder over Ketul. Thanks a lot for your time, Geoffrey.Send your questions to Geoffrey Boycott by clicking here

The highs and lows of the Champions League T20 2012

Kanishkaa Balachandran29-Oct-2012

Highs

Bowlers dominate
Twenty20 is perceived to be a batsman’s game and it is for the most part. It wasn’t during the Champions League in South Africa. In the early summer, the seamers got the ball to nip around and carry, and sometimes the tennis-ball bounce made batting harder. The bowlers forced batting sides to revise their estimations of what a competitive score was. Including the qualifiers, the average first-innings score in completed matches was roughly 146 – well below the corresponding figure for the IPL. A team was dismissed for less than 100 once and, in the final, Lions looked like capitulating for much less at 9 for 4. There were only three scores in excess of 180, the highest being Kolkata Knight Riders’ 188 for 5 against Titans.Phangiso, the revelation
Following the discovery of Sunil Narine in the 2011 Champions League, this edition has all but launched another spinner, the Lions left-armer Aaron Phangiso, a new face to the majority of his opponents. With ten wickets from six games, Phangiso finished joint second with Azhar Mahmood, but it was his miserly economy rate of 5.36 that stood out. He conceded more than five runs an over only twice in a completed spell and also dismissed Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Watson. His spin may lack the element of ‘mystery’ that Narine possesses, but he keeps batsmen guessing with the occasional pause before delivery. Bigger things are in store for Phangiso if the scouts were paying attention and though he’s on the wrong side of 20 – he’s 28 – it may not be too late for the selectors to include him in their Twenty20 plans at least.Lions defy expectations
Two editions of the Champions League have been held in South Africa and on both occasions, a local side made the final (Warriors in 2010). While that wasn’t surprising, the fact Lions made it all the way was one of the stories of the tournament. They had underachieved in finals in the recent past, including in the domestic T20 competition. The sell-out crowd at the Wanderers on Sunday was indicative of their fans’ loyalty and craving to witness them end their jinx. Though it wasn’t to be, there were plenty of positives. A side that lacked star power at the top rallied around the experienced Neil McKenzie to knock out two IPL teams – Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians. They impressed with their temperament while chasing, and their middle order responded under pressure. Besides Phangiso, the likes of Gulam Bodi, Quinton de Kock and Jean Symes made big impressions.Unstoppable Sixers
Brad Haddin, the Sydney Sixers captain, said his side had been preparing for the finals for over two weeks. The Big Bash League winners came in to the tournament with the strongest fast bowling attack, containing the likes of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. The future of Australia’s bowling was on show. The Sixers proved they could remain unbeaten even in Shane Watson’s absence, and their overseas picks, Michael Lumb and Nathan McCullum, made telling contributions in the final. Haddin also had utility players at his disposal, and he used the left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe with the new ball. The ‘pink’ jokes can be put to rest.Sachin Tendulkar had a forgettable Champions League T20•Getty Images

Lows

Tendulkar’s no-show
Sixteen, 7, 2, and 22 are not scores you would associate with Sachin Tendulkar. His fortunes mirrored that of Mumbai Indians, who went home winless. Another problem with Tendulkar’s performance was his strike-rate – less than 100 in all innings. His recent tendency to get bowled was repeated in two innings; even the unheralded Phangiso hit his stumps. It’s difficult to pinpoint the reasons for Tendulkar’s failure. He insists that murmurs over his ‘waning’ reflexes do not affect him. With the England Tests coming up, this wasn’t the ideal preparation.The IPL flop
It was a snub for the organisers that only one out of four IPL teams made the semi-finals. The IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders made the earliest exit, and Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians hoped in vain for a backdoor entry. Despite having foreign players who represented their IPL sides instead of their ‘home’ teams, they failed to adapt to the conditions. They should have given themselves more time to acclimatise after a four-month break, like Auckland Aces did. For the sake of the tournament and its overwhelming Indian presence, the organisers will want it back in India next season.Weather
There were five washouts, two of which were without a ball bowled. None of the four venues were spared by the rain. The weather affected the chances of certain teams going through to the semis. Delhi Daredevils had the worst of it, with two complete washouts. The extended idle time was of no help to Virender Sehwag, desperate for form and match time ahead of the Indian home season, albeit in a different format. This should be another lesson for the organisers when it comes to scheduling.England’s pull out and the credibility issue
The biggest criticism levelled at the tournament is that it does not have a level-playing field. The introduction of the qualifying round from 2011 only highlighted the gulf between the stakeholders and the rest of the teams. Australia and South Africa are allowed two teams each in the main draw, while India have four. The tournament also took a hit when England said its counties wouldn’t play further seasons because of a clash with its domestic schedule. That the format is still a work in progress after four editions doesn’t inspire confidence.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the second day of the Hobart Test

Daniel Brettig in Hobart15-Dec-2012Surprise of the day
The way Australia’s newspapermen waxed eloquent about Michael Clarke overnight when he was 70 not out, it seemed a century and more was as inevitable as rain in Hobart. This assumption looked a safe one based on Clarke’s stellar 2012, in which he has so far piled up 1432 runs, including three double-centuries and a triple, against India at the SCG in January. But the Bellerive Oval pitch seemed a little zippier and seamer-friendly on the second morning, and in a swift spell Shaminda Eranga extracted enough life to deceive even Clarke, coaxing an edge that was well held at slip. So the expectation of another captain’s century was confounded, at least for today.Drop of the day
For 170 balls, Michael Hussey made barely the ghost of a mistake on his way to 96, maintaining a fearsome record of runs against Sri Lanka. But to the 171st he swivelled to pull Eranga, did not get on top of the bounce, and Angelo Mathews hovered under the chance in the deep. He intercepted it right on the boundary, but spilled the chance, the ball bobbling onto the turf and then over the rope. Hussey celebrated his fifth century in six Tests against Sri Lanka. In the one Test Hussey did not pass three-figures against Sri Lanka, he had made 95.Decision of the day
As the best captains tend to do, Clarke often makes decisions in advance of observers reaching a consensus on what he might do. Hussey and Matthew Wade were having very little trouble at all against Sri Lanka’s bowlers, rolling along at better than five runs per over following the rain, and might have kept batting all day. Instead Clarke called them in 40 minutes before tea the moment the tally reached 450, catching Sri Lanka’s fielders by surprise. Clarke was not rewarded with a wicket in the period up to the interval, but his closure has left the game open to a result despite the chance of more rain interruptions over the next three days.Spin of the day
Tillakaratne Dilshan does not take kindly to being tied down, and he was helped on his way in the evening by an unfortunate piece of fielding from Ben Hilfenhaus. Posted to fine leg, Hilfenhaus’ eyes briefly lit up when Dilshan hooked at Peter Siddle and sent a top edge in his direction. But the ball died late in its path towards Hilfenhaus, and on pitching short of the crouching bowler it spun past his hands and over the rope. Siddle was aghast, but soon had the consolation of Kumar Sangakkara’s wicket.

When overseas, England’s best batsman seems to be playing on a trampoline

Andy Zaltzman15-Mar-2013INTRIGUING KEVIN PIETERSEN STAT ALERT. Strap in, numbers fans.Kevin Pietersen made a carefully constructed and carelessly concluded 73 in Wellington, consolidating the outstanding first-day batting of Nick Compton and Jonathan Trott, before Matt Prior converted it into scoreboard dominance. England’s mercurial superstar thus recovered from a dismal game in Dunedin, in which an excusable first-innings golden duck to a fine Neil Wagner inswinger – bucking the team tactics for the innings by getting out to a good ball instead of planking a bad one straight to a fielder – was followed by a second-innings 12 that was pokier than an agoraphobic’s secret dungeon.England’s well-documented garbageous form in overseas first Tests, which now stands at a solitary victory over Bangladesh in 14 series since 2005, has coincided with Pietersen’s arrival in the team. Pietersen has played in all 14 of those Tests, averaged 29, and scored no centuries (albeit with a couple of very near misses). In the most recent four of those first Tests, he has scored 2 and 0, 3 and 30, 17 and 2, and 0 and 12.However, in few short days between the first and second Tests of away series, Pietersen locks himself in a special magic cocoon, before exploding out for the second Test, like a caterpillar who swallowed a Lancaster bomber, transmuted into an unstoppable force of batting devastation. In 14 second Tests overseas, Pietersen averages 80. He has hit six centuries – including two big ones in Ashes matches in Adelaide, a brilliant 151 in Galle, and his recent Mumbai masterpiece – plus three more half-centuries.Then, with the momentum of a series often turned England’s way, Pietersen once again dons his cloak of vulnerability, a garment he dons and discards with astonishing rapidity. In the third, fourth and fifth Tests of series: 18 matches, two hundreds, average 34. England, therefore, should drop him immediately before his inevitable comedown in Auckland. Or clonk him on the head with an anvil and hope that he forgets the Wellington Test, and plays the third Test as if it were the second.Brendon McCullum might have been out of his mind in suggesting that Alastair Cook is second only to Bradman in the annals of batting magnificence (or talking in some form of secret code to let his wife know that he had left the oven on at home), but he would have been on sounder footing to suggest that Pietersen is in fact better than Bradman. Albeit only in second Tests of series away from home. The Don averaged a paltry 78 in the second Tests of the four rubbers he played away from Baggy Greenland. (To be fair to the statistical Zeus that he was, Bradman outshone Pietersen in the latter stages of away series, averaging a useful 133 in third, fourth and fifth Tests combined.)Pietersen’s scoring in away series constitutes a curious pattern. Particularly when you compare it with his equivalent figures in Tests in England – he averages 56 in first Tests, 56 in second Tests, and 51 in third/fourth/fifth Tests. Reliable equilibrium at home. From low to high and back again like a demented Edmund Hillary everywhere else. If anyone can explain these figures, please alert Pietersen, the ECB, and the International Journal of Psychology.

• Some comparisons with other players in away Tests: Cook: 51 in 1st Tests; 64 in 2nd Tests; 49 in 3rd/4th/5th Tests. Strauss: 41-28-50. Trott: 47-44-44. Bell: 33-49-37. Prior 35.4-37.2-52.9 (only away 100s in 5th Tests)
  A random selection of other leading batsmen’s averages in second Tests overseas: Hobbs 67; Sobers 52; Richards 60; Tendulkar 59; Hutton 49; Kallis 60; Ponting 42; Dravid 52; Miandad 33; Crowe 53; Boycott 38; Greg Chappell 77. A very quick perusal of about 20 leading players found only one who outperformed Pietersen in away second Tests – Wally Hammond, who averaged 104, significantly aided an unbeaten triple in New Zealand.

• Pietersen is not alone in struggling in first Tests overseas. Len Hutton, arguably England’s greatest ever batsman, averaged just 27 in the opening matches of away rubbers. He seemed to warm up as series went on, however, averaging 49 in second Tests, 45 in third, 74 in fourth and 91 in fifth. This pattern was largely replicated in home Tests. Overall, his averages in each match of series ascended as follows: 36-44-58-78-85.
• The first innings in Wellington was the third time in four Tests in 2013 that four New Zealand bowlers have bowled 30 or more overs in an innings. They had done so just three times in their previous 113 Tests over 13 years.
• England’s new Balthazar of Block, Steven Finn, has now faced 304 balls and been out three times in this series. Previously in his entire first-class career, he had faced 1327 balls and been out 61 times – once every 22 balls.
• DRS rightly deprived Bryce Martin of Matt Prior’s wicket, which would have given him the first five-wicket innings haul by a New Zealand spinner in a home Test against England since Stephen Boock, in Auckland in 1977-78. Martin’s nine wickets so far in the first two Tests are already the joint second most by a Kiwi tweakman in a home series against England, behind Dipak Patel’s ten in the 1991-92 series. Daniel Vettori, in his three home series against England, has taken 7, 5 and 7 wickets.

As a senior player with a good record from his previous Tests in India, much more was needed from Shane Watson in this series

Brydon Coverdale24-Mar-2013With a firm drive back to the bowler, Pragyan Ojha, in Australia’s second innings, Nathan Lyon consigned Shane Watson to an embarrassing fate. Lyon, the No. 11, had faced more deliveries in this series than Watson, the No. 4 and supposedly one of the team’s senior batsmen. Both men had played three Tests on this tour. Lyon had shown admirable fight and in two of his innings had lasted more than an hour. Watson managed that only once. Plenty of Australia’s batsmen were culpable on this trip, but none more so than Watson.After the match, Watson spoke of his disappointment at his own poor results but he also defended the wider top-order performance by saying the conditions had been difficult. If they were that difficult, how did Peter Siddle score a half-century in each innings in Delhi? How did Mitchell Starc make 99 in Mohali? Why did men batting at No. 7 or below top score in four of the eight innings? How was it that Lyon (244 balls), Starc (254 in two Tests), Siddle (350) all survived more deliveries over the four Tests than Watson, who faced only 239?In the second innings in Delhi, Watson showed that while the conditions might have been challenging, he wasn’t respecting them. On a pitch offering up-and-down bounce, pulling is fraught with danger. Anything that could threaten the stumps needed to be met with a straight bat. But Watson went for a big pull, the kind of shot that brings him countless boundaries on flat pitches in one-day and Twenty20 cricket, and was bowled when the ball kept low. It was a terrible shot in the circumstances.Watson was the acting captain in Delhi and that made sense for a one-off match, for he is vice-captain to Clarke and was the logical choice as leader. But the vice-captaincy should not guarantee selection and Watson must be sailing dangerously close to losing his place. In the past two years he has scored 627 runs at 24.11 in 14 Tests. That would be acceptable if he was a bowling allrounder, but his primary role in this side is as a top-six batsman. On that alone he should be judged.When the Ashes comes around later this year, Watson is likely to be bowling again. If he is making runs and bowling he provides valuable balance to the side; if he is still failing with the bat that becomes irrelevant. Watson will probably be in the XI for the first Ashes Test and against England’s fast men he could score runs – he averaged 48.00 there on the 2009 tour. But then, he averaged 16.50 in this series having averaged 40.09 on his previous two Indian tours.That Watson performed so poorly having played six Tests in India before this series made him the most accountable of Australia’s batting failures, but he was not alone. The batting throughout the tour was characterised by a lack of patience and an inability to handle the turning ball. There are two sides to batting, the technical and the mental, and on both Australia were beaten soundly in this series.India’s batsmen set the example from the first Test. Collectively they scored six centuries and five of their batsman averaged 50-plus. They were patient and respectful of the conditions, they played with straight bats and they waited for the bad balls to put away. Too often the Australians tried to force the issue, hoping an aggressive approach would put India’s bowlers on the back foot. Cross-bat shots and inadequate footwork proved extremely costly.

Three members of the top six averaged fewer than 20 for the series. It is no wonder Australia lost 4-0 with such a malfunctioning batting order.

Michael Clarke scored a century on the opening day of the first Test in Chennai but no Australian made one after that. Three members of the top six – Watson, Phillip Hughes and Matthew Wade – averaged fewer than 20 for the series. That is a figure that bears repeating. Three of the top six. Fewer than 20. No team can carry such inadequacies. It is no wonder Australia lost 4-0 with such a malfunctioning batting order.As expected, Clarke was excellent in spinning conditions and Steven Smith’s footwork also made him a valuable member of the middle order. Ed Cowan progressed throughout the trip and showed that he could bat time, generally forcing the bowlers to get him out rather than getting himself out. But overall it was a miserable tour for Australia’s batsmen. The bowlers at times let things slip away but always they found themselves defending sub-par totals, often propped up by their own tail-end efforts with the bat.It is becoming a worryingly consistent trend. In the past year, Australia have played 13 Tests. Clarke has scored four centuries and the now-retired Michael Hussey made three. Outside of those two, Australian batsmen have made only four hundreds in those 13 Tests: Wade has made two and Cowan and David Warner one each. It’s more than two years since Watson has scored a century. In the past year, only Clarke and Hussey have averaged 40-plus, of those Australians who have played more than two Tests.Often, Australia have got by on the backs of Clarke and Hussey, for before this disastrous tour the only series they had lost since the 2010-11 Ashes was against South Africa at home, and that could have gone either way. But now Hussey is gone and says he’s not returning. Clarke cannot shoulder the batting burden alone. And a burden it has become.There is merit in showing patience in a young, developing batting line-up. But can that come at the cost of a 4-0 whitewash in India and a couple of Ashes drubbings? The conditions in England will be more familiar for the Australian batsmen, but England’s attack is full of quality. If the batting falters again in England, what then? Australia would face the prospect of retuning their line-up for another Ashes at home a few months later.Australian cricket may not exactly be brimming with batting talent at the moment, as shown by the fact that Ricky Ponting, who retired after a woeful series against South Africa, easily topped the Sheffield Shield run tally this summer. But there are other batsmen worth trying. Usman Khawaja is one. Alex Doolan is another. So is Callum Ferguson. The in-form veteran Chris Rogers would be an ideal Ashes pick if he wasn’t an opener. Australia have enough of them already.But what this tour has highlighted is that substandard batting cannot be tolerated indefinitely, especially from senior men like Watson, otherwise this won’t be the only thrashing Australia will receive this year.